Apparatus for the production of music



Oct. 15, 1968 E. VAGIAS 3,405,585

APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MUSIC Filed Oct. 20, 1955 CUT-OFF SHARP LOW FREQUENCY AMPIFIER CUT-OFF Fig.1.

SHARP HIGH FREQUENCY INVENTOR. ERNEST VAGIAS By f w United States Patent 3,405,585 'APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MUSIC Ernest Vagias, 265 Prospect St., Baden, Pa. 15005 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 456,602,

Apr. 27, 1965. This application Oct. 20, 1965, Ser. No. 498,336

7 Claims. (Cl. 84-187) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A musical instrument having tuned vibrators, a sounding board and bridge means rigidly affixed to the sounding board and engaged by the tuned vibrators for transmitting the vibrations of the tuned vibrators to the sounding board. Audible musical sounds are radiated from both faces of the sounding board. The vibrations of the tuned vibrators are converted into electric audio sounds by means connected solely to the bridge means and spacedapart from the tuned vibrators. The electric audio signals are applied to speaker means and thereby converted to audible musical sounds heard in concert with the sounds radiated from the sounding board to produce an ensemble effect.

cillations have been amplified and reconverted to audible sounds. Furthermore, mechanico-electric translating devices have also been employed in pianos for converting mechanical vibrations of the resonator or sounding board into electric oscillations which, in turn, have been amplified and reconverted to audible sounds. These devices have been placed, for example, directly on the sounding board of the piano and at various other locations above the sounding board, as evidenced by the prior art. However, the sound produced by each of these arrangements has been poor and can best be described as tinny or canned.

The reasons why the reproduced piano sounds are tinny or canned are not completely understood. In

the case where the device is secured directly to the soundr ing board, one possible explanation might be that the natural frequency of the sounding board is altered when contacted by the translating device. That is to say, the efficiency of the sounding board is decreased.

In another arrangement, layers of felt were employed to absorb substantially all of the sound radiation from the lower face of the sounding board, that is, that face of the sounding board remote from the tuned vibrators. In

combination with the sound absorbing material, means were provided for translating the string vibrations either directly or indirectly into electric oscillations which, in turn, were reconverted into audible sounds. Again, the resulting audible sounds were not true piano sounds.

Here'tofore, no apparatus of the prior art is capable of reproducing true piano sounds and, for that matter, true musical tones of any musical instrument of the type described.

Accordingly, as an overall object, the present inventiori seeks to provide means by which the musical sounds of an instrument may be reproduced and amplified.

Another object of the invention is to provide means 3,405,585 Patented Oct. 15, 1968 ice for reproducing and amplifying the sounds of a musical instrument without any detectable distortion or loss of tone value.

Still another object of the invention is to provide means for reproducing and amplifying the sounds of a musical instrument which are heard, in unison, with the sounds radiated from the musical instrument itself, to create an ensemble effect which enhances the overall sound of the instrument.

A further object of the invention is to provide amplifying means for musical instruments wherein the resonator of the musical instrument is unimpaired in its operation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide amplifying means for a piano whereby a single string may be employed for each note of the piano.

Although not limited thereto, the present invention is particularly adapted for use in pianos. In accordance with the present invention, a musical instrument is provided having a plurality of tuned vibrators and a resonator coupled to the tuned vibrators in a manner whereby the resonator radiates sound in accordance with the vibrations of the tuned vibrators. The resonator comprises a sounding board which radiates audible sounds from both faces and bridge means, such as the base and treble bridges of a piano, afiixed to the sounding board and engaged by the tuned vibrators for transmitting the vibrations of the tuned vibraors to the sounding board. Means is provided for converting the vibrations of the tuned vibrators into electric audio signals which, in turn, are reconverted into audible musical tones.

The present invention resides in the discovery that by affixing the converting means directly to and solely on the bridge means, the true musical tones of the instrument can be reproduced and amplified without any detectable distortion or loss of tone value. That is to say, the sound reproduced is, for all intents and purposes, identical to the sounds radiated from the instrument which, as is known, includes the fundamentals as well as the harmonics of the musical notes.

In accordance with the present invention, the sounding board is permitted to radiate audible sounds from both of its faces, as is conventional. The converting means preferably comprises microphones affixed to the bass and tenor bridges of a piano, for example, and a more sensitive electromechanical-transducer element affixed to the treble bridge of the piano, for example. Accordingly, the microphones detect not only the sound shock waves radiafed by the sounding board but also the vibrations transmitted by the bridge means to the sounding board. It is important to note that the sounding board is completely unimpaired and therefore functions in its normal manner to produce unimpaired rich musical tones. Consequently, the original string vibrations as well as the sound shock waves radiated from the sounding board may be amplified to any desired volume without any detectable distortion or any loss in tone value.

As a consequence of the present invention, it is now possible to manufacture a small size piano which produces good musical tones of low intensity and amplify these low intensity musical tones so as to produce musical sounds which are indistinguishable from the sounds of a large grand-type piano, for example. Furthermore, the small size piano may incorporate a single string for each note in the musical scale.

The musical sounds of a large piano, for example, a grand piano, may be amplified and the resulting amplified sounds are indistinguishable from the sounds radiated from the piano itself. Inasmuch as sound radiations are permitted to escape from the piano, the radiated sounds heard with the reproduced sounds, whether or not they are amplified, create an ensemble effect which enriches the tone values of the piano rather than detracting therefrom as in the prior art apparatus.

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of the harp and sounding board of an upright piano incorporating a plurality of converting means or pickups in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken substantially along a string of the piano of FIG. 1, further illustrating the position of a converting means or pickup.

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated an upright piano which, as is conventional, includes a metal harp 12, a resonator or sounding board 14 rigidly mounted at its periphery to a frame 16 of the piano housing. The metal harp 12 is secured to the frame 16 at various points, as is conventional. The harp 12 includes an upper harp portion 18, an intermediate harp portion 20 and a bottom harp portion 22. Extending between these harp portions 18, 20 and 22, is a plurality of tuned vibrators consisting of a plurality of bass vibrators 24, a plurality of tenor vibrators 26, and a plurality of treble vibrators 28.

Referring now in particular to FIG. 2, a single tuned vibrator is illustrated and designated generally by the letter V. A damper is shown which damps the vibrator V. A hammer 32 is also illustrated and causes the tuned vibrator V to vibrate. The dampers 30 as well as the hammers 32 are incorporated into action elements and a keyboa-rd both of which are not illustrated or described herein inasmuch as they are conventional.

In general, each tuned vibrator V is connected to a hitch pin 34 at one end and extends over a rib 36 and is connected to a tuning pin 38 at its opposite end. Turning of the tuning pin 38 will, of course, alter the tension of the vibrator V and, hence, its frequency of vibration. Each tuned vibrator V also contacts a bridge 40 which is afiixed to the sounding boa-rd 14. The bridge 40 serves to transmit the vibrations of the tuned vibrator V to the sounding board 14. By means of the bridge 40, the sounding board 14 is coupled to the tuned vibrator V and is therefore adapted to radiate sound in accordance with the vibrations of the tuned vibrator V.

In accordance with the present invention, a single tuned vibrator or string is employed for each note in the piano scale, i.e., eighty-eight strings. Consequently, the bass vibrators 24 are twenty-seven in number and extend between the harp portions 18 and 22. The tenor vibrators 26 are thirty-one in number and extend between the harp portions 18 and 20. Finally, the treble vibrators 28 are thirty in number and extend between the harp portions 18 and 20. All of the bass and tenor vibrators 24, 26 and approximately the first ten treble vibrators 28 are damped by the dampers 30. The remaining or last twenty of the treble vibrators 28 are undamped.

Further in accordance with the present invention, the sounding board 14 is completely unhampered and is adapted to radiate audible sounds, indicated schematically by the dotted wave forms S in FIG. 2, from both faces thereof. That is to say, when one of the tuned vibrators is caused to vibrate, sounds corresponding to the vibrations will radiate to the right and to the left of FIG. 2, for example. Consequently, the piano 10 comprises a normal piano which may be played with or without the amplifying means of the invention.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the bass vibrators 24 contact a bass bridge 40B, while the tenor and treble vibrators 26, 28 contact a treble bridge 40T. The bridges 40B and 401 are secured to the sounding board 14, as described above. In accordance with the present invention, a pickup or converting means 42 is secured directly and solely to the bass bridge 40 B at a central location thereon and preferably opposite the speaking length side of the bass and 46 is preferred, other locations on the bridges 40B and 40T would serve in a like manner. vThe. irrrportant fact to note is that the pickups, forexample, the pickup 42 illustrated in FIG. 2, is secured directly and solely to the bridge. Hence, the pickups 42, 44 and 46 do not hamper the normal operation of the sounding board 14.

The pickups 42 and 44 preferably comprise electroacoustic transducers such ascrystabtype microphones. The pickup 46 preferably comprises an electromechanical transducer element such as a contact microphone of the piezoelectric type positioned on the bridge40T, to be responsive to the vibrations of-the treble vibrators 28.

The electric audio signals are transmitted from the pickups 42, 44 and 46 to an amplifier 48 for subsequent reconversion to audible sounds by speaker'means 50. As is known, any undamped tenor or treble vibrator 26, 28 will be caused to vibrate by the vibrations of a bass vibrator 24 when the frequency of the undamped treble or tenor vibrator is a multiple of the frequency of the bass vibrato-r. Although. these sympathetic vibrations are not audible to the average listener, the pickups 44,v 46 connected to amplifier 48 will, of course, amplify these sounds to an audible intensity. Therefore, it is prefer-red that a sharp low frequency cutoff 52 be connected between the pickups 44, 46 and the amplifier 48. If desired, a sharp high frequency cutoff 54 may be connected between the pickup 42 and the amplifier 48.

It is preferred that the sharp low frequency cutoff 52 and the sharp high frequency cutoff 54 be provided within the frame of the piano 10 and that one or more conductors 56 (as needed) be provided having connectors 58 which comprise means for applying the electric audio signals to the amplifier 48. The amplifier 48 and speaker means 50 are shown enclosed by dash-dot line to indicate that the amplifier 48 and speaker means 50 comprise elements of a stereo or hi-fi system found in the average home. Alternatively, the amplifier 48 could be incorporated into the frame of the piano, it being preferred that the speaker 50 be placed at a distance from the piano in order that the ensemble effect will be most noticeable.

It is to be understood at this time, that a conventional piano may be adapted for amplification, in accordance with the principles of the present invention set forth above.

-In conventional pianos, multiple strings are employed for most of the notes in the scale. Multiple strings or unisons are used to increase the intensity of sound of each musical note. This is necessary inasmuch as no sounding board has been made which can amplify the string vibrations of a single string to produce an intensity of sound equivalent to the sound intensity produced by multiple strings. In any particular note, then, the strings are tensioned to vibrate at the same frequency. For example, the standard concert pitch for A in the treble clef is 440 vibrations per second. If, however, one of the strings vibrates at, say 443 vibrations per second, these strings when sounded together will produce an unpleasant musical sound, that is, a sour note. As is known, it is very diflicult, if not impossible, to maintain the tune of the multiple strings, for very long periods of time.

In accordance with the present invention, however, a single string may be employed for each note in the musical scale. Consequently, if the string which produces the note A, for example, is vibrating at 443 vibrations per second instead of the standard 440 vibrations per second, the average person would not be able to distinguish the difference in pitch. Therefore, the tune of the modified piano would remain for longer periods of time. As a consequence of the single string notes, various other advantages result.

First, the number of strings used would be eightyeight as compared to the conventional number of 180- 230 strings. Inasmuch as each string is under tension of about 16 0 pounds, the overall tension force created by the eighty-eight strings is approximately 2.0 to 2.75 times less than that of the conventional piano. Therefore, it is not necessary to employ a, heavy harp as in conventional pianos.

Second, the single string may be damped perfectly. The multiple strings of a conventional piano are diflicult to damp.

Third, a much softer felt may be used on the hammers and its stroke reduced from the standard one and seveneighths inches to about one-half inch. The overall effect of this modification is that no undesirable shock wave is produced when the hammer strikes the string.

Finally, the time required to tune the piano is decreased considerably, that is, from about two hours for conventional pianos to about twenty minutes for the piano of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a musical instrument, the combination comprising: a plurality of tuned vibrators; a resonator coupled to said tuned vibrators and adapted to radiate sound in accordance with the vibrations of said tuned vibrators, said resonator comprising a sounding board adapted to radiate audible musical sounds from both faces, and stationary bridge means engaging said sounding board and engaged by said tuned vibrators for transmitting the vibrations of said tuned vibrators to said sounding board; means connected solely to said stationary bridge means and spaced-apart from said tuned vibrators for converting the vibrations of said tuned vibrators into electric audio signals; and means for transmitting said electric audio signals to speaker means.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein one tuned vibrator is employed for each note in the musical scale of said instrument.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said converting means comprises an electro-acoustic transducer.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said converting means comprises an electromechanical transducer.

5. In a piano, the combination comprising: a plurality of tuned vibrators consisting of bass vibrators, tenor vibrators and treble vibrators; a resonator coupled to said tuned vibrators and adapted to radiate sound in accordance with the vibrators of said tuned vibrators, said resonator comprising a sounding board adapted to radiate audible musical sounds from both faces, and stationary bridge means engaging said sounding board and engaged by said tuned vibrators for transmitting the vibrations .of said vibrators to said sounding board, said stationary bridge means comprising a bass bridge engaged by said bass vibrators and at least one other bridge engaged by said tenor vibrators and said treble vibrators; means, one each connected solely to said stationary bridge means in the region of said bass vibrators, said tenor vibrators, and said treble vibrators and spaced-apart from said tuned vibrators, for converting the vibration of said vibrators into electric audio signals; and means for transmitting said electric audio signals to speaker means.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein the converting means responsive to the vibrations of said bass and tenor vibrators comprises eleqtro-aco ustic transducers and wherein the converting means responsive to the vibrations of said treble vibrators comprises an electromechanical transducer.

7. In a musical instrument, the'combination comprising: a plurality of tuned vibrators; a resonator coupled to said tuned vibrators and adapted to radiate sound in accordance with the vibrations of said tuned vibrators, said resonator comprising a sounding board adapted to radiate audible musical sounds from both faces, and stationary bridge means engaging said sounding board and engaged by said tuned vibrators for transmitting the vibrations of said tuned vibrators to said sounding board; means conected solely to said stationary bridge means and spaced-apart from said tuned vibrators for converting the vibrations of said tuned vibrators, into electric audio signals, and circuit means connected to said converting means and including speaker means for converting said electric audio signals to audible sounds in accordance with the vibrations of said tuned vibrators.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 722,967 3/1903 Gardner 84-188 892,511 7/ 1908 Fauth 84-174 1,893,892 1/1933 Hammond 84-192 1,896,683 2/ 1933 Clark 84-192 1,961,410 6/1934 Wegel 84-192 2,001,392 5/1935 Miessner 84-1 2,334,744 11/1943 Benioff 84-1.16 2,568,862 9/1951 Martin 84-1.16 2,983,177 5/1961 Sabine 841.16 3,049,958 8/1962 Beniofi 84-1.16 3,069,955 12/1962 Burkhard et al. 84-116 3,084,583 4/1963 Anderson 841.16 3,137,754 6/1964 Evans 84-1.16 3,301,118 1/1967 Keane et a1. 84-1.16

FOREIGN PATENTS 717 842 '2/ 1942 Germany. 931,689 7/1955 Germany.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner. S. A. WAL, Assistant Examiner. 

